After struggling through an unexpected 3-9 record last season, Oregon State cornerback Jordan Poyer didn't want to experience anything like that misery in his senior season.

Two seasons without a bowl trip had most observers expecting the Beavers to be challenged to escape the Pac-12 North cellar.

“When we started in the offseason, we hit it hard,” Poyer said. “It might be a surprise to outside people how well OSU did this year, but not to us. It was hard and a grind, but it's definitely been rewarding.”

The Beavers have employed some unique motivational tricks to charge to a 9-3 record and a berth in today's Valero Alamo Bowl against Texas.

There were no wholesale staff changes or philosophy tweaks that might have been the rule at many other schools.

“We have trust here,” OSU coach Mike Riley said. “And if we have a bad year like we did a year ago, nobody is pointing fingers. Nobody is going crazy or panicking. We just go back to work.”

That attitude was boosted by the team leaders, whose contribution could be measured in hundreds of hours of work during the offseason.

“There's no magic to it,” said Riley, 81-66 over 12 seasons in two stints at Corvallis. “But when you've been at a place for as many years as we have, kids know it's real and it becomes the kind of thing carried by the older kids in the program. They then become the teachers in how we do it.”

The Beavers' focus also was aided after the Sept. 1 opener against Nicholls State was postponed when Hurricane Isaac bore down on the Colonels' campus in Thibodeaux, La.

“Our team did a great job of keeping that momentum going, even though we didn't get a chance to play that first week,” Riley said. “They just kept practicing and didn't even bat an eye.”

And once they played, they were ready. The Beavers adjusted without a warmup game in a 10-7 victory over then-No. 13 Wisconsin the next week.

“The extra week gave us a chance to prepare and work on ourselves, and it did help,” Poyer said. “It got us where we needed to be. And then we handled Wisconsin and it gave us a lot of confidence heading into the rest of the season.”

Another key moment came before the game at UCLA on Sept. 22. Riley had gone 1-4 in recent Rose Bowl trips and was looking for a change in his preparation routine.

In those earlier games, the Beavers' attention was diverted with team members leaving for visits to malls and meetings with their families.

It led to Riley calling for a team dinner and mandatory positional meetings after a short time for family visits. For the usually relaxed Riley, it was like barricading the castle fortress.

“Here's your time to socialize, and then our meetings start at 8:30 p.m.,” Riley told the team. “But, by the way, if we win the game, we're all going to In-N-Out, and I'm buying.”

The move produced a surge of support from the Beavers, particularly from their California players who had grown up eating at the iconic hamburger chain.

“Of course, it got us guys from Cali kind of excited about it,” wide receiver Brandin Cooks said. “That's where most of us were going anyway.”

After the Bears beat UCLA, Riley arranged for 200 double-doubles to be delivered to his team to toast the triumph. That tradition continued when the Beavers could arrange for the special delivery.

Whether it was the burgers or the extra focus, OSU has been part of the largest turnaround in the nation, going from three wins to nine.

“It was unbelievable work by everybody on the team,” quarterback Cody Vaz said. “Everybody stayed around this summer and worked their butts off to get this turned around.”